By the south shore of the Harray loch, on a point of land called Antaness, around
150 metres to the north of the Standing
Stones o' Stenness, are the remains
of an Orcadian Stone Age settlement.

Now known simply as
the Barnhouse Settlement, only the reconstructed lower courses of a small section of the village's stonework
are visible today.

But although these meagre remains are
nowhere near as impressive as its contemporary, Skara
Brae, the Barnhouse Settlement is particularly interesting for a number of
other reasons.

Barnhouse revealed

The
village was discovered in the winter of 1984, after a field-walking exercise undertaken
by archaeologist, Colin Richards.

Agricultural activity
over the centuries meant that little remained of the site, but the resulting excavations
uncovered evidence of 15 small dwellings in varying stages of development.

The
structures were round - perhaps with timber and turf roofs - with turf cladding
surrounding the outer walls. Because there were no roofed passageways between
the huts - such as those at Skara Brae
- it appears that the Barnhouse dwellings were free standing and not encased in
midden.

But particularly intriguing was the fact that
each building appeared to have been deliberately demolished at the end of its life.

Today, although only the reconstructed
lower walls are visible, the similarities between Barnhouse and Skara Brae are obvious.
This is not particularly surprising given the two villages were
in use at the same time. On closer examination, however, it becomes clear that
the Barnhouse structures actually differ in style to Skara Brae.

This
difference, however, is not great and probably due to the fact that the Barnhouse
settlement fell out of use 450 years before Skara Brae. As such, its architecture
did not develop to the same extent.

Indeed, excavation
at Skara Brae has shown that its earliest dwellings were relatively similar to
the Barnhouse structures.

Elaborate structures

The layout of the Barnhouse Settlement. House Two and
Structure Eight stand out clearly from the other buildings
uncovered during the excavation.

But despite
the architectural differences, the Barnhouse Settlement visitor will still be able to
pick out the similarities between the two ancient settlements - both have the
same central, kerbed hearths, recessed box-beds
and stone furniture.

But
two of the Barnhouse buildings are very different.

These
structures - House Two and Structure Eight - are larger and more elaborate than the other buildings at Barnhouse
or Skara Brae.

These differences, clearly apparent on
the site plan to the right, prompted the theory that the structures were built
to house someone of importance within a tribal hierarchy.

We know the Barnhouse settlement was in
use at the same time as the Standing Stones
o' Stenness and within the largest structure is a central hearth,
similar to the one in the Stenness henge.

Was the settlement
created to house certain individuals who were instrumental in the construction
of the stone ring? This might explain why the buildings were demolished after
use - when the project was completed the artisans moved on.

Home
of a priesthood?

Another idea is that the village was constructed
to house an elite class of "priest".

This theory
originally surfaced a number of years before Barnhouse was discovered, when it
was suggested that Skara Brae was the home of "priests" who officiated at tribal
ceremonies in and around the Stenness rings. At the time, however, the idea was
abandoned, only to be resurrected after the Barnhouse settlement was found.

The design of House Two seems to fit with this idea as
there are structural similarities between it and Orkney's chambered
cairns.

Perhaps this building was not a mere dwelling but was actually some
form of meeting hall, connected with the ceremonies at the nearby stone rings.
Or were the tribal wise-men cloistered in this sacred compound, close to their
ceremonial centre?

A clear connection between Barnhouse and the Standing Stones o' Stenness is the large stone hearth found in the centre of the stone circle. This hearth was constructed from four large stone slabs, and, according to Colin Richards, was transplanted Barnhouse to the interior of the ring.

The first building
at Barnhouse took place around 3300BC. The settlement remained in use for around 700 years, before falling out of use around 2600BC.The settlement takes its name from the nearby farm Barnhouse, on whose land it was found. The actual name of the area in which the village stands is Antaness.
At the centre of the settlement was an open area in which
the villages made their pottery and worked flint, bone and animal hides.The quantity of material
found in the Barnhouse Settlement that was not from Orkney proves that the community
was by no means isolated. Instead, the Neolithic Orcadians had contact with other
communities down the west coast of Scotland. The interior of the Barnhouse dwellings were more of less
identical to the houses of Skara Brae, with the central
hearth, recessed beds and stone dressers.
The close proximity of the Maeshowe,
and the fact that it was constructed while the settlement was thriving, could
mean that the inhabitants of the village buried their dead in Orkney's grandest
chambered tomb.